Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1887-05-21

T8{&
aRAZFF
BEss WAS STILL LEANING AGAINST THE
PIANO..
There Is no need Tor you to laugh at me,
Capt. Mel" she said, quickly, and then, with
All abrupt Goodnight" left the room.
The old man smiled, jerked the stem of his
pipe over his shoulder after her, and winked
i'll a way that, no doubt, meant unutterable
things, but which did not convey much to his
astonished guest, who sat still and said moth
ing. Then Bessie got up and bade him good
night in her pleasant voice, and with house.
was to his liking, and how many blankets he
liked upon his bed, telling him that if he
found the odor Of the moonflowers, that grew
near the veranda, too strong, he had better
shut the right hand window and open that on
the other side of the room; and then at
length, with a piquant little nod of her golden
head, she went of, looking, he thought as be
watched her retreating figure, about as
healthy, graceful and generally satisfactory
a young woman as a man could wish to see.
"Take a glass of grog, Capt. Mel" said the
old man, pushing the square bottle toward
him; "youll need it after the mauling that
brute gave you. By the way, I haven't
thanked you enough for saving my Bessie!
But l do thank you, yes, that l do. must
tell you that Bessie is my favorite niece.
Never was there such a girl-never. Moves
like a springbuck, and what an eye and form!
Work. too-sheM do as much work as three.
There's no nonsense about Bessie, none at all,
She's not a fine lady, for all her fine looks"
"The two sisters seem very different" said
John.
Gay, you're right THERE" said the old man.
you'd never think that the same blood ran
i'll their veins, would you. There's three
years between them, that's one thing. Bes-
sizes the youngest, you see-she's just 20 and
jess is %. Lord, to think that it is twenty
three years since that girl was born! And
tueiIS WdS q queer SCOry, COO."
"Indeed?" said his listener, interrogutively.
say" he went on absently, knocking out
his pipe and ref1lling it out Of a big, brown
jar of coarse cut Boer tobacco; "Ill tell it to
you if you like; you arc going to 1.-Two in the
house, and you may as we'll know it. I am
sure, Capt. Mel, that it will go 10 further.
You see I was born I'm England; yes, and well
born, too. l como from Cambridgeshire-
from that fat fenland down round Ely. NV
father was q clergyman. Well, he wasn't
rich, and when 1 was 20 he gave me his bless
ing, thirty sovereigns in my pocket and my
passage to the Cape; and l shook his hand,
God bless him! and off I came, and here in
the old colony and this country l have been
for fifty years, for l was 70 yesterday. Well,
Ill tell you more about that another time;
it's about the girls I'm speaking now. After
! left home-twenty years after Or hard on
Tiny dear old father married again, Il
youngish woman with some money, but be-
meath him somewhat in life, and by her he
had one son and then died. Well, it was but
little | heard Of my half-brother, except that
he had turned out very badly, married and
taken to drink, till one night some twelve
years ago, when u strange thing happened. l
was sitting here in this very rooln-ay, in
this very chair-for this part of the house was
up then, though the wings weren't built-and
smoking my pipe and listening to the Iashing
of the rain, for it was u very foul night, when
suddenly an old pointer dog l had, named
Ben, gave a bark.
"'Lie down, Ben; it's only the KaHlrs,'
said /.
Just then l thought | heard a faint sort OF
rapping at the door, and Ben barked again,
so got up and opened it, and in came two
| lift1a pirlc u pnal ~ Ia <Ll IL, al ~. .e-..
such gear. Well, I shut the door, looking
out first to see il there were any more outside,
md then l stood and stared at the two little
things with my mouth open. There they
stood, hand in hand, the water dripping
from both OF them, and tho eldest might
have been II, and the second about 8. They
didn't say anything, but the eldest turned
and took the shawl and hat Off the younger
that was Bessie-and there was her sweet
little face and her golden hair, and damp
enough both OF them were, and she put her
thumb in her mouth, and stood and looked at
mo till began to think that l was dreaming.
"'Please, SIR said the biggest, at last, is
African RepublicH
eyes, little miss, this is his house, and thif
is the South African Republic, and | am he.
And now who might you be, my dearsf
answered. =
"If you please, sir, We are your nieces, and
we have come to you from England
"'Whatn l halloaed, startled out of my
wits, as well / might be.
"'Oh, sir, says the poor little thing, clasp
ing her thin, wet hands, please don't send us
away. Bessie is so wet and cold and hungry,
too. she isn't fit to go any farther
Sand she set to work to cry, wherein the
little one cried too, from fright and colda and
| sympathy.
swell, Of course, / took them both to the
fire and set them on my knees and halloaed for
Hebe, the old Hottentot woman who did my
cooking, and between us we undressed them
and wrapped them up in some old clothes
and fed them with soup and wine, so that in
half all hour they were quite happy and not
a bit frightened.
"'And now, young ladies' / said, come
and give me a kiss, both Of you, and tell mo
how you came here
"And this is the tale they told me-com-
pleted, of course, from what l learned after
ward-and an d one it is. 1t seems that
my half brother married a Norfolk lady-a
sweet young %thing-and treated her like a
dog. He was a drunken rascal, was my half
brother, and he beat his poor wife and shame
fully neglected her, and even i'll treated the
two little girls, till at last the poor woman,
weak as she was from suffering and ill health,
could bear it no longer, and formed the wild
idea of escaping to this country and throw
ing herself upon my protection. 1t will show
how desperate she must nave been. She
scraped together and borrowed some money,
enough to pay for three second class passages
- Nat --l